In the late 1950s and early 1960s, global demand for Scotch whisky blends reached unprecedented heights. The American market surged, and Scottish distillers raced to expand production capacity. It was during this period of rapid growth that entrepreneur George Christie established the North of Scotland distilling complex in Cambus in 1958.

While North of Scotland was conceived primarily as a large-scale grain whisky operation, Christie also installed two traditional copper pot stills on site to produce a malt whisky from the same location. This separate malt distillery was named Strathmore.

However, as demand for grain whisky essential to blended Scotch quickly eclipsed that of malt whisky, Christie made a decisive choice. After only one year of production, Strathmore’s pot stills were dismantled to make room for additional grain capacity. Nearly all of Strathmore’s limited malt whisky production was sold to blenders. According to Christie’s son, Ricky, only two bottles of Strathmore single malt are known to exist today one in his possession, the whereabouts of the other remaining a mystery.

The North of Scotland grain distillery eventually closed and was sold to DCL in 1982, bringing an end to one of Scotland’s most intriguing and short-lived malt whisky chapters.